On using the exception to re-define the rule...

A favorite leftist propaganda tactic is to hunt for exceptions, and then parade the exception around as representative of the majority or at least of a critical mass of thought. For example, implying that the whacked-out views of Cindy Sheehan represent a significant portion of Gold Star Parents; or that the outrageously whacked out Jack Murtha is representative of the opinions of a significant number of military officers.

Here's another case in point. The wonderfully "unbiased" staff of 60-minutes, that bastion of non-partisan, fair and balanced yellow journalism propaganda, has searched high and low and have managed to find some soldiers who oppose our war effort. And of course they proceeded to parade them in front of cameras in a manner to suggest that they represent the thoughts of a significant portion of soldiers.

I have no doubt that there are some soldiers who oppose our efforts in Iraq. But 60 minutes described this group of soldiers as a "large group," based on registration numbers at Appeal for Redress.

When I visited the site, there were a total of 1,436 "soldiers" that had signed the petition.

To see how easy it was for any joe schmoe to sign up, I signed up under a pseudonym; afterward, the count went up to 1,437.

IOW, there is absolutely no fact-checking mechanism to ascertain whether people who sign the petition are indeed active-duty military, or had ever even been in the military!

Secondly, even if every signatory was legit, to say that 1,436 soldiers is a "large group" or even relevant when compared to the current 1.5 million active duty military is a stretch of monumental proportions!

Additionally, seeing as how the organization behind Appeal for Redress is connected with and are fellow travellers with openly far-left, socialist forces as Mother Jones, Common Dreams, United for Peace and Justice, etc., it is not at all surprising that CBS was able to find a few fellow travellers in the bunch who were active military. Although one of the soldiers in the interview appeared to take great pains to state that he was not a liberal, the connection between Appeal for Redress and far left organizations is unmistakable.

It is the height of propagandist spin for what is supposed to be a news organization to say that this group is "large," either in relative or even absolute terms. Yet using the "exception to re-define the rule" technique, CBS News was attempting to do just that.

The fact that it is possible for virtually anyone to join their ranks, regardless of military status, and be still be unquestionably counted as active military makes the size of this group even more suspect.

And the fact that an organization with the level of resources of CBS news didn't bother to take the time to check this out speaks further volumes as to their level of journalistic integrity.

Or lack, thereof.

****UPDATE*****

More on the "astroturf" origins of "Appeal for Redress" here.

Blogs--doing the work the MSM refuses to do.

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